


traitorous hearts

by jdphoenix



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s02e05 A Hen in the Wolf House, F/M, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-05
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-18 10:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5924212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdphoenix/pseuds/jdphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She doesn't have an alibi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	traitorous hearts

**Author's Note:**

> An anon requested "She doesn't have an alibi" for a first sentence prompt and it got very out of control.

She doesn’t have an alibi. It’s written all over Simmons’ face. Bakshi’s on the warpath looking for this leak and, for whatever reason, Simmons thinks she’s in danger.

“I’ll catch up,” Grant says. The others move on ahead, all too eager to get to the range (without him along to screw up the betting pool) to bother questioning why he’s hanging back with a lab tech. He keeps one eye over his shoulder and both hands on Simmons’ until the rest of his team has disappeared around the corner, and then he tips his head towards the bathroom she just came shooting out of. “Anyone else in there?”

She shakes her head, confused, and he pulls her inside. He lets her go once they’re in and she stumbles down the narrow aisle between stalls and sinks. When she catches her reflection in the mirror, she gulps, starts fiddling with her hair like somehow that’ll make her look less pale.

“Where were you this afternoon?” he asks. “Between four and five?” They know the flexscreen was dropped somewhere in there and Bakshi and his new attack dog are going floor by floor asking everyone what they were up to at the time.

She goes, if possible, even paler and backs away from him like a cornered animal.

He sighs. “You don’t have an alibi, do you?”

“I-” she chokes. She shakes her head.

He crosses his arms with a smile. “God, you are _not_ cut out for this place.” For all that John’s death will always be a hole in his life, it’s a damn lucky thing it happened when it did. If he hadn’t been transferred under Whitehall’s leadership, Simmons would be alone here and, frankly, he’s surprised she survived the five months before he showed up. “You wanna tell me what you were doing or-?”

“No,” she says sharply.

“Okay,” he chuckles. “Well I know you’re not the mole, so now we just need a story Bakshi will believe.”

Her mouth drops open into this cute little O and he’s almost proud to have put that flummoxed expression on _Jemma Simmons’_ face. “H-how do you know I’m not the mole?”

“ _Simmons_ ,” he says, “you _can’t lie_. No one would ever _dream_ of sending you undercover. I actually think I wrote that in a report once…” He can’t remember now if it was one for SHIELD or for HYDRA. Whatever, doesn’t matter now. “Point is, Bakshi’s desperate for a win here and, as one of his favored few, he’ll have you under closer scrutiny than the rest.”

Turns out, Bakshi’s got a soft spot. Grant can’t blame him; Simmons’ _Simmons-ness_ is a breath of fresh air in the middle of all the lying and backstabbing and power-grabbing in HYDRA. But that doesn’t mean Grant’s forgiven him for testing her loyalty by sending her into the field _alone_ \- he’s still working on how to make the bastard pay for that.

“I know,” she says, wringing her hands. She’s been here six months, she’s sure to have heard about the brainwashing by now. If Bakshi even _suspects_ someone he’s trusted is the leak, he’ll have them compliant by day’s end just to cover his ass.

“You need an alibi,” Grant says.

Again with the shocked face; he’s kind of insulted.

“Hey.” He approaches her slowly, sets his hands on her shoulders again. “I’m gonna protect you, all right? Same as always.”

“Really?” she asks, looking him over like she’s expecting him to turn into someone else.

“ _Really_. We’re on the same side, right? No reason I shouldn’t.” It was a surprise finding her in HYDRA, sure, but a relief too. He can admit, now that John’s not around to see it in his face, that he got a little attached to the team. Now that one of them’s come around to the right side of things, he’s not about to let anything happen to her.

“Oh.” She gives him a tentative little smile. “Well, thank you.”

He squeezes her shoulders and lets his hands fall down her arms and away. She’s not wearing her lab coat and her skin is warm despite the chilly bathroom air. He fists his hands. “You can thank me once you’re in the clear. So what were you doing? Talking to Fitz?”

“Why would you think I was talking to him?” she asks _extremely_ quickly. He puts another mental tick in his _Fitz confessed his feelings and Simmons took it badly_ box.

“I’ll take that as a no,” he says, ignoring her question. “Boyfriend you don’t want HYDRA knowing about?”

She puts on the same stern look she always did when Skye teased her about her wandering eye around specialists.

“If I don’t know, I can’t come up with a lie that won’t be proven wrong later.”

She folds her arms over her chest and looks away to the line of stalls. “I- I was-”

He arches his neck forward, inviting her to get on with it already.

“I had to run home.”

“Because?” he asks when she seems determined to leave it at that.

Her face turns an impressive shade of red. “Ladies’ reasons.”

Grant stifles a laugh. “Unfortunately there’s no way to prove that’s all you were doing.”

“No. I’m afraid not.”

“So you need a cover no one will question, that it’ll be easy for you to sell.”

“That’s the crux of the problem, yes.”

She’s a horrible liar. Any story she tells will have to be one that also explains why telling it has her nervous. He looks her over slowly, considering. What would Jemma Simmons try to hide from HYDRA that they wouldn’t get on her case for?

The answer is so simple he almost wants to smack himself for not thinking of it sooner. Of course, he has to test her ability to sell it first - not that that’ll be a hardship on his part.

He closes the distance between them and then some, backing her into the tiled wall. One of his hands cushions the back of her head and the other rests possessively over her hip.

“What-?” she asks and he cuts off the rest with a kiss. She stiffens momentarily, understandably shocked, but her arms wrap around his neck quick enough.

He smiles against her mouth, deepening the kiss. She’s always had a thing for him. He worked damn hard to make sure of that and it was fun, encouraging her when no one was around to see - or even when they were. So it’s not a surprise that she’s into the kiss she’s probably been dreaming about for the better part of a year, what _is_ a surprise is how into it _he_ is. Despite their considerable height difference, she fits well against him and there’s something about the way she’s moving against him already that’s _just right_.

He breaks the kiss, pulling back only far enough that he can watch her dazed expression clear. She stiffens again once she realizes what’s just happened, but he traces his thumb over the skin just above the waist of her pants and it sooths her some.

“You were with me,” he says evenly. “We met at your apartment and spent some time doing … this.” He tips his head on a grin.

“ _You’re_ going to be my cover?” she asks.

“Yep. It’s not something anyone will fault you for, but it makes sense why we’d keep it quiet. Okay?”

He steps back, giving her room to breathe and to think. She’s smart, smart enough to jump ship for HYDRA when the time was right; he just hopes she’s smart enough to see this is her best play.

“And what will happen after?” she asks, lifting her chin proudly.

“After?”

“After I’m safe from suspicion. What will we- how will we-” She gestures between them weakly.

“We’ll have to keep it up - for a little while at least. Think you can handle that?”

He’s talking about pretending to be in a relationship, nothing more, but from the way she looks him up and down she’s definitely thinking of the more. He keeps the worst of his grin in check.

“Yes,” she says a little hesitantly. “I think so.”

He reaches out to brush down a strand of her hair that’s sticking up after the mess he made of it. She doesn’t flinch away, that’s good.

“Don’t say anything,” he says. “If anyone asks, you can’t say where you were.”

Now she flinches. “ _What?_ But what’s the point then?”

“I’m going to go to Bakshi and tell him about us, warn him to back off of you. Trust me. You denying everything will only prove it to him more.”

She gapes at him as he backs towards the door.

“I do have some training in this, you know.”

She doesn’t look impressed but she _does_ decide to go along with it, he can see that clearly enough.

“Go back to work," he says calmly, “everything’ll be fine.”

He leaves her, heads for the security office conveniently located just down the hall. It’s the work of a few seconds to distract the techs monitoring the feeds and corrupt most of the footage of his little bathroom encounter with Simmons. Most but not all. He leaves the kiss. As evidence. And because it’d be a damn shame to cut it. Same for the way she watches him leave and, when he’s gone, lifts her hand to her mouth in memory. The smile on her face is promising, he’ll _definitely_ be able to sneak a few more of those while this thing plays out.

Now he’s just gotta find Bakshi and scare him away from Grant’s new girlfriend.

 


End file.
